German boffins say they have developed a miracle nasal spray which can make men into big girls' blouses.
Dr René Hurlemann of Bonn Uni's Klinik für Psychiatrie, working with colleagues in Germany, Arizona and Blighty, has just announced successful tests of the new girlification spray - whose active ingredient is the hormone …

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Do they

Who needs a spray?

Once you've accidentally dropped something into the toilet and had to retrieve it, or had a pet who likes to drink from the toilet bowl, you tend to get into the habit of not only putting the seat down, but the lid as well.

Toilet seats: reality check

Only Reason Required

You don't need any of these reasons to get into the habit. You just need to consider what happens every time you flush. Some people don't care to have the bowl's contents aerosoled throughout the room.

Great idea

Weaponised

Us Brits were there first

Accordingly to Lee Evans us Brits have a better military deterrrant. A line of pregant women to face charging enemy troops who will tell them to "F*CK OFF !!!!" What man is gonna mess with a homicidal pregnant woman ?? :)

As I expected.

Withdrawal

"The boffins consider that their oxytocin spray might be handy as "medication for diseases such as schizophrenia, which are frequently associated with reduced social approachability and social withdrawal"."

So, in short, finally a way to treat what ails most El Reg regulars...

Pint, because that's the ENGLISH way to treat social withdrawal...and it's Friday!

keep it out of the hands of the entertainment industry

PMT?

And when the men are no longer being sprayed with this and the effects wear off - presumably they become profoundly bitchy, irritable, suffer with hot flushes/stomach-cramps and are entirely unable to park a car properly for the next week?

Other effects.

Did the subjects also start to crave chocolate, soap operas, Josh Gronin, Jeremy Kyle, shoes, handbags and Hello magazine, while talking endlessly about absolutely nothing in their 3rd bubble bath of the day before taking 6 hours to get dressed and totally losing their ability to drive a motor vehicle?

Another way to look at it

Introducing a large dose of a particular hormone into a relatively balanced system will create a severe hormonal imbalance, resulting in a subsequent inability to mediate emotional responses. They're screwing with these guys brain chemistry and creating an emotional imbalance.

Showing more emotion doesn't equate to increased empathy any more than lacking visible emotion equates to less empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and identify with others and most people (yes, this includes both sexes) are more than capable of demonstrating high empathy without showing highly visible emotions. The fact that women tend to show more visible emotion when they're empathising is just a quirk of nature. Each behaviour is desirable within its own setting, but the idea that you can turn men into more empathetic creatures by disturbing the chemical balance of their brain strikes me as a little disturbing as it assumes the female way of showing emotion is the better way in all situations. It isn't.

I'd be more interested in...

Actually...

Sorry for the lack of humor

but this is old news. Oxytocin is also known as "the trust drug." People (men AND women) when subjected to it tend to trust and love everybody. (I know, some imbibers react like this, but others get nasty, morose or just fall asleep.) This would be dangerous stuff for someone with bad intent to have!

Sanrio

Be careful what you wish for.....

......even in jest.

There's a Sanrio store in Milan. It's like a sort of insane version of John Lewis, with every single sodding item in there pink and Hello Kitty branded. Since they had a 50cc scooter, a washing machine, a suite of bedroom furniture and a 50" LCD telly in the window, I wouldn't mind taking a punt that there was an airconditioning unit squirrelled away in there somewhere.

Leaving a big gap to fill...

Title Schmitle

To put some tech back into this... if we used this on ladies, do you think they would somehow experience an emotional signed integer overflow and switch over to being able to read maps* and play computer games?

(Yes, I'm jumping on the stereotype bandwagon while the going is still good)

Much more ominous

There are two species of voles: one that is polygamous (like most male mammals), the other is monogamous (!). The difference is that the latter has higher levels of oxytocin. Injecting the polygamous ones with oxytocin makes them monogamous.

Will human males, who are naturally inclined to be polygamous, react the same way? Is this the actual intended use of the nasal spray?